A strong email campaign management strategy makes for a winning email campaign
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for an email campaign, but a solid email campaign management strategy can make all the difference for your organization or political campaign. Cultivating a fruitful relationship with your supporters takes time, planning, and strategy. Check out our email campaign management tips below to get the process started!
1. Plan Ahead
Planning ahead is of the most important aspects of email campaign management. Make an email calendar, plotting out the dates/times you want to send out supporter emails. If there’s an important date or moment that you know you’ll want to talk about, plan for it. Have a sense of who will write each email, and who the sender will be. You won’t be able to map out every email in advance, and you may not follow your schedule precisely, but having a long-term plan will make your communications strategy more organized (and your life less stressful).
2. Keep it Short and Sweet
We all get bombarded with emails daily. No matter how laudable your goals are, remember that even your most ardent supporters likely don’t live and breathe your cause, eagerly awaiting your every inbox word. Keep your emails short and sweet so folks are likelier to read and act on them.
3. Know Your Ask
Every email should have an ask. Do you want supporters to like your Facebook page? Donate to your cause? Retweet or share a post? Read an article? Know your ask, and keep it to one per email.
4. Segment Your List
Not every email you send will be relevant to your entire supporter list. Organize your list into clearly defined buckets, based on supporter interests and behaviors. This way, you can send variations of the same email to each segment and tweak your messaging to make it resonate with each group. Segmenting makes it easier to get to know your list and maximize engagement among different audiences.
5. Test
Figure out the tones and subject lines that resonate with your list. You can A/B test subject lines among a small group and roll out the winner to a larger audience to increase open rates and actions, for example. Don’t be afraid to try something new, as long as you’re willing to learn from the process.
6. Communicate Regularly
Ping your supporters on a regular basis. For some, this might mean weekly emails; for others, this could mean sending emails twice a week or once a month. In shaping your email campaign management strategy, have a sense of how often you want to communicate with folks to achieve your goals. You don’t want to email so often that people unsubscribe, but you want people to recognize your brand and want to read your updates – strike a balance to keep your supporters in the loop and engaged.
7. Avoid Jargon
Communicate clearly with your supporters. Some people may appreciate policy jargon, but most won’t understand or respond to it. Keep your communications simple and accessible. Don’t get lost in the weeds!
8. Define Your Metrics for Success
Think about how you want to define success for your email campaign. Some potential metrics could include email open rates, click rates, or the number of shares or donations each message spurs. Your metrics for success may vary for each email, but be sure to define them so that you can learn and adapt as you go.